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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 Background of the Study

Worldwide, students experience social, personal and academic problems at schools and at homes. The problems include living in distressed family, for example, where parents are separated or divorced, where conflicts occur and where disease such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDs) are rampant. These problems negatively affect the students in their school endeavours.

Robinson (1991) states that ‘’Social experimentation in drugs and sexual relationship have some causalities among students”. A good number of students engage in drug, prostitution, truancy, indiscipline and other misdemeanours (Robinson 1991). The outcome of the above problems is summarized by Lines and Davies (2003), who view the school as bee hive of activities where teenage difficulties and peer group tension arise. In the light of these problems, schools should be more involved in conducting students’ need assessments and developing comprehensive guidance and counselling services (Kameam, et al 1980). Related to the above is Elkind’s (1990:17) argument that schools should move into a leadership role in dealing with the emotional and family problems of their students.

Nziramanzaga (2009) posits that because of many pressures imposed on the families, parents tend to have little time with their children to give them the necessary guidance. The parents expect the school to provide solutions to their children’s indiscipline in secondary schools.

Paisdly (2001) calls for schools’ guidance and counselling to be restructured so that they become responsive to the existing social economic and political realities within today’s complex and diverse society.

Research has demonstrated high prevalence of risk taking behaviour among adolescents who attend school in Enugu North Local Government. Okechukwu Obianugu (2010). Students in the adolescent age bracket experience rapid growth and changes, physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially (Robinson, Linderman 1991) found that rapid developmental changes occur at a time when environmental stress occur.  For example parents and teachers pressures on young people to excel in school, peer pressure to experiment with drug, conflict in families or poor relationship, loneliness and pressure to make career choices are at peak.

According to Gysbers, N.C. & Henderson, P. (2001) it seems as though many educators take it for granted that students know how to succeed in life, when in fact many never learn about attitude, behaviours and other factors that contribute to success in life; and guidance and counselling services to student to cultivate  attitude and behaviours leading to success in life is very important. Otwell and Mullis (1999) believe that guidance and counselling is important in schools because it increases behaviour related to achievements such as studying effectively. In rural areas of some of the villages in Enugu North Local Government, for example, many students drop out of school as a result of poor performance in academic grade and failure to adjust to high school learning situations. A student who loses confidence in his or her ability and who devalues himself lacks concentration and this leads to academic failure. Rectondoki (2001). The provision of guidance and counselling should address the following three domains of learning, namely: Personal Social, Vocational career and educational guidance and counselling. Personal social guidance and counselling deals with self-identity, social skills relationships, conflicts resolution, personal loss and other problems; Vocational career counselling includes information about course, requirements, post-secondary or tertiary institutions, career path, planning, potential employers and job hunting; Education guidance and counselling provides information about educational opportunities beyond schools; promotion and achievement, learning strategies and studies and test taking skills. (Graham- Migel 1999) reiterated that comprehensive school guidance and counselling services address the development need of students in secondary schools in   the three domains of learning mentioned above. Thus, the most function of school guidance and counselling services is to discover their abilities, interests and needs, thereby helping them to make effective adjustment to school life and to give shape to their future plans. Rutondoki (2001) states that complete guidance and counselling should be continuous. Counselling should begin when the student enters school and should carry that student into adult life. The counselling should be preventive in the sense that counselee receive help in order to avoid certain problems. The present study sought to access whether guidance and counselling services in Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State are as effective as expected.

Statement of the Problem

It has been noted that students face a number of problems during adolescence (Amakos 1990. Since secondary school students are in the adolescent stage, the need for effective guidance and counselling becomes compelling. Thus, there is need to establish the effectiveness of services from schools’ counsellors and students. In addition, the view of the school as a context where students experience a number of problems (Line in Daries 2003) as well as the increased number of problems students face in modern society have prompted the researcher to investigate the effectiveness of school guidance and counselling services in Enugu North Local Government’s secondary schools.

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